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Eternal Domicile
The Eternal Domicile was the newer palace complex in the heart of the city of Letheras. It was begun by King Ezgara Diskanar seventeen years before the start of Midnight Tides and was intended to replace the city's Old Palace.Midnight Tides, Chapter 2, US SFBC p.69 The Avenue of the Seventh Closure led to a concourse before the palace that was overlooked by the king's balcony on the First Wing.Midnight Tides, Chapter 22, US SFBC p.654 The Eternal Domicile was meant to comprise five wings each with four tiers, but only three wings had been completed by the start of Midnight Tides. The other two proving problematic and prone to sinking into the clay beneath. The name was rather ironic as the whole structure was slowly sinking.Midnight Tides, Chapter 6, US SFBC p.186Midnight Tides Chapter 2, US SFBC p.69 The building's unfinished central dome proved so challenging that four royal architects had commited suicide and a fifth had mysteriously died while trapped inside a sewage pipe. The tunnels underneath the palace were meant to permit the swift passage of guards throughout the palace in case of a breach. But despite being located above the water table, the tunnels were all chest-deep in muddy water and infested with rats. The Royal Engineers struggled to combat the water seepage with hoses and pumps while sending members of the Rat Catchers' Guild after the troubling number of rodents.Midnight Tides, Chapter 6, US SFBC p.186-187 The throne room was approached by the Royal Colonnade of the Eternal Domicile, an enormous marble hallway leading from a large reception area to the throne room's massive bejeweled doors. The hall's polished marble tile flooring was wide enough to permit ten men to walk abreast. Both sides of the central passage were flanked by twenty marble pillars spaced three paces apart. Another passage big enough to accommodate an armoured member of the palace guard ran between both runs of pillars and the walls of the hall. The pillars were carved in a spiral pattern and painted sea-green. A hemispherical ceiling ran the length of the hall web-spun in gold on a midnight blue background with diamonds glittering like drops of dew. The walls were decorated with stylized murals of the First Empire. The hall was lit by ensorcelled crystals which cast a dim blue light from their sconces on the walls.Midnight Tides, Chapter 20, US SFBC p.596Midnight Tides, Chapter 25, US SFBC p.733-734 The throne room had panels of stained glass set in its dome.Midnight Tides, Chapter 20, US SFBC p.616 The throne was sat on a raised dais.Midnight Tides, Chapter 20, US SFBC p.616 In Midnight Tides Royal Engineer Grum raced to get the palace completed in time for the Seventh Closure when the king was prophesied to Ascend and become the First Emperor of a reborn First Empire.Midnight Tides, Chapter 2, US SFBC p.86 Grum eventually solved his flooding problem by hiring a promising new company called "Bugg's Construction" which had developed new engineering techniques to shore up building foundations. Although run by Bugg as a front company for Tehol Beddict's business interests, the company's techniques were sound and the palace's sinking was abated.Midnight Tides, Chapter 17, US SFBC p.525 Strangely, the tunnels were chilly in temperature when construction was complete. On the day of the Seventh Closure, King Ezgara was crowned emperor by First Eunuch Nifadas in a ceremony in the palace's throne room.Midnight Tides, Chapter 22, US SFBC p.664 But by then Tiste Edur emperor, Rhulad Sengar, and his armies approached the city. After taking the city, Rhulad and his entourage approached the Eternal Domicile where Ezgara and his supporters sat in vigil.Midnight Tides, Chapter 25, US SFBC p.730 The entranceway of each wing was barricaded by at least thirty guards except where Ceda Kuru Qan placed himself in the Royal Colonnade awaiting the Edur. His sorcerous battle with the Warlock King burned the paint off the walls, buckled the floor, and left the hall's marble columns melted like tallow.Midnight Tides, Chapter 24, US SFBC p.691 Notes and references Category:Buildings Category:Letheras